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A few weeks ago, Kramer made this beautiful sourdough boule, which was incredibly good and there was not nearly enough of it to go around – I think we finished it off the same day that it was made…what can I say? I’ve never met a piece of bread that I didn’t like, especially sourdough bread. In my last post about eggs, my friend Andrea’s mom, Jennifer, told me that my dish reminded her of what is called “Eggs and Soldiers” in England. I loved the name so much that I thought it’d be a great way to both utilize Kramer’s fine bread workmanship, as well as to devour as much bread as possible. So, we soft-boiled some eggs, something that Kramer is also a master at, cut up our beautiful sourdough boule, and before we knew it, we were in a wonderful egg yolk heaven. There’s just something magical about dipping your toast into a perfect soft boiled egg, and watching all of the bright yellow yolk spill out – an egg yolk cooked correctly is nature’s perfect sauce, didn’t you know?

All you need to make delicious soft boiled eggs.

Fill your pot with 4 inches of tap water, add your vinegar, and heat to 180 degrees F, then submerge them in the water and cook, covered, for exactly 6 minutes.

Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon.

Butter your toast (we used the sourdough boule that Kramer made) and cut into slices thin enough to dip in your egg.

Now cut the tops off of your eggs – you can use a cheap egg cutter, like I did, or you can tap around the outside of the egg to crack it – either method works well.

Fill your pot or deep-sided pan with 4 inches of water. Heat the water over a medium-high flame to 180 degrees F (it should be steaming) - I really recommend using a thermometer, if you can.

Place your cold eggs in the 180 degree F water, cover with a lid, turn off the heat, and cook for exactly 6 minutes. When you place the eggs in the water, the temperature may drop a bit, so be sure to turn the heat up for 30 seconds or so to compensate, then check the temperature again before placing the lid on the pot and turning off the heat entirely.

Remove the eggs from the water when 6 minutes is up with a slotted spoon, cut the tops off of the eggs, and serve with toast, salt, and pepper.

I love eggs and soldiers! I’ve not had that for breakfast for years, and have been less inclined to since moving to America. It’s not that eggs are bad here, just that they taste different, and I worry that if I make eggs and soldiers with said eggs, because of the taste difference it will ruin the memories for me.

I love your post! Just the perfect time to introduce healthy breakfast to my toddler who loves singing rhymes like Humpty Dumpty, and all…
She is getting picky with breakfast dishes now that she is growing up and I cannot allow my creativity to go stagnant during these times. Thanks to posts like this one.I know my presentation won’t be as pretty as yours (mine will be messy, I can bet on that…) But I know I’ll have an A for effort. Thanks for sharing!

Sydney
That sounds tasty! I have never tried soft boiled eggs but do like a good runny egg yolk! and I never met a piece of bread I didnt like either! Theres a french/dutch restaurant here in Phnom Penh that serves this same dish but instead of soldiers they call the pieces of toast “toast fingers” which I thought was equally amusing!

Lovely way of showing the recipe – This is definitely a Sunday tea time favourite in our house followed by scones, jam and cream (very English although we live in Wales!). I love that egg top cutter, I wonder if you can buy them here in the UK as I am always the one burning my fingers cutting off the tops for the kids 😉